Paul Hughes
I am a leadership and change professional with 30 years of experience across C suite advisory, global consulting and executive education.
My work involves the design and delivery of leadership and change solutions for organisations of all sizes. I’ve worked with commercial enterprises, not for profit organisations, government bodies and leading business schools. I fuse academic rigour with practical impact, helping organisations unlock potential, deliver transformation and achieve clear results.
I have led diverse teams and business functions in Europe, Asia and the Americas. This global experience informs the work I do in supporting organisations through consulting and leadership development.
My core strength is the design and delivery of leadership programmes grounded in behavioural science and clear business understanding. These help my clients face complex challenges in different markets and cultures by aligning leaders, at all levels, around shared priorities.
My approach focuses on creating inclusive environments, where people feel able to think deeply, challenge themselves and each other. I place equal weight on individual insight and organisational follow through, consistently driving commitment to practical performance focused action.
As well as spending 15 years in academia, I have spent more than a decade in commercial leadership roles, following my career change from law. That experience shapes how I work today. I bring structure, credibility, some humour and a calm centre into meetings where people are under pressure and thinking hard about change, whether in the boardroom, in leadership retreats or at key moments of career transition.
Practice Area
Panel
- Contributing Author
Experience
- Cranfield School of Management (2024 - 2025)
- Harvard Business School (2021 - 2024)
- Center for Creative Leadership (2017 - 2021)
- Cranfield School of Management (2010 - 2017)
Membership
- Fellow at the Centre for Evidence Based Management
- Member of the British Psychological Society
Qualifications
- Doctorate of Business Administration (DBA) (2017)
- MBA (2002)
- LLB (1992)
Education
- Carnegie Mellon University (2020)
- Cranfield School of Management (2017)
- Ulster University (2003)
- University of Aberdeen (1992)
1 Contributions by Paul Hughes
CHECKLISTS
Financial literacy self-assessment for in-house lawyers: checklist on financial statements, cash versus profit, ratios, working capital, budgeting, investment appraisal, annual reports and building finance-ready business cases
Question Answer
This Checklist is for in-house lawyers. It helps you gauge how well you grasp the key finance and accounting concepts you are likely to encounter day to day, and how they apply within the business. Use it to spot knowledge gaps-both technical and business-specific-and to prioritise what to tackle next so you can contribute more effectively to commercial discussions. Assess your current confidence level honestly; this will show you where to concentrate your learning. Some questions test awareness of concepts, others explore how you have used this knowledge practically; use both to target your development. If several areas feel uncomfortable, that is common and fixable. See Practice Notes: Introduction to business finance and accounting-financial accounting and external performance and Introduction to business finance and accounting-management accounting and internal decision-making for guidance on the essentials of business finance and accounting, and why this matters for in-house lawyers. See: Improving your financial literacy-checklist for practical steps that you can take to improve your financial literacy and understanding of how key finance and accounting concepts apply to your business...
In-house Advisor
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